Facebook suffers dip in American users

by Jorge Hernandez on June 14, 2011

In countries across the globe, Facebook is more popular than ever, but the same cannot be said for the United States and Canada. Although the social networking site is expected to crack the 700 million user mark sometime in the near future, its users are actually diminishing in North America.

According to Inside Facebook, a group that tracks data related to the website, worldwide growth for Facebook has slowed from about 20 million users a month to just under 14 million in April and a little less than 12 million in May.

However, in the case of the United States, the figures look even worse. From the beginning to the end of May, Facebook lost about 6 million American users, dipping from 155.2 million to 149.4 million. The number of users in Canada also took a hit, though not as substantial, of about 1.52 million.

Despite the drop in the U.S. and Canada, along with smaller drops in the United Kingdom, Facebook is still on the rise in developing countries who only recently were given access to the website. Specifically, Inside Facebook reports that Brazil made the biggest gains from May to June, with a 10 percent jump in usership. Similarly, Mexico experienced a 7.6 percent growth in the same time span.

While Facebook may be on the decline in the United States, other forms of social networking are making gains. Tech Crunch reports that Twitter has jumped into the number two spot behind Facebook in terms of traffic, and Linkedin, which has more than 100 millions users in 200 different countries, slipped in at number three. Such is the case in Canada, the U.K. and much of Western Europe.